The exec, who clashed with Apple while at Adobe, now runs the team working on wearable software at Apple -- a vital role as the company expands into a new business.
One of the stars of last week's Apple event wasn't a well-known name or even a regular on stage for product demonstrations. Instead, it was a person who once cheered as a steamroller (and blender and dynamite) demolished an iPhone.
That man was Kevin Lynch.
It was up to Lynch to demonstrate -- for the first time in public on Sept. 9 -- the features of Apple's newest gadget, the Apple Watch. At the Cupertino, Calif., venue, Lynch showed off the ability to send a heartbeat to a friend through haptics -- touch-feedback technology -- and communicate through a high-tech version of Morse code. Lynch also demonstrated the integration of Apple's Siri digital voice assistant in the watch and talked up partnerships with companies such as American Airlines, Starwood Hotels and Nike.
Overall, it was the Apple Watch, and not the company's new, bigger-screen iPhone 6 andiPhone 6 Plus devices, that captured the audience's attention. For Apple, the watch represents its first effort in the hot wearables sector and the first push by Apple into a new market since 2010's iPad. It helps Apple diversify its product line as it faces slowing smartphone andtablet growth and shows it can still innovate without Steve Jobs at the helm. Apple CEO Tim Cook had promised he would expand Apple's footprint, and the Apple Watch helps him keep that vow.
It was Lynch who had Cook's trust to show off Apple's newest baby. The executive, known to wear cardigans and round spectacles, joined the company in early 2013 after a lengthy stint at Adobe Systems. Lynch is not the typical Apple convert -- his time at Adobe was marked by a clash against Jobs over Flash. The widely used technology for Web games and video was one of Adobe's prized products, but Jobs didn't want it on his iPhones and iPads. Jobs won.
So how did Lynch end up overseeing the software on Apple's first wearable?
Apple declined to comment or make Lynch available for an interview. Lynch didn't respond to a request for comment.
Programming roots
Like many software executives, Lynch's fascination with technology began at an early age. And even back then, Apple held sway over the man.
Starting in the field of programming at a young age, he studied interactive computer graphics at the University of Illinois, working with artists and engineers in the Electronic Visualization Laboratory, according to his site.
On his personal website, Lynch lists the first Macintosh and the user interface from Apple's Lisa computer as two of the early influences on his life in computing. In 1984, he helped establish one of the first Mac software startups, Lynch said. He later helped develop the first Mac release of FrameMaker -- software designed for writing and tweaking large or complicated documents -- and led the group's core technology team.Specifically, Lynch worked as a Mac software developer, creating early Mac applications while at college, "including a desktop publishing program that introduced user interface elements in common use today," according to his bio from Adobe.
Lynch had early exposure to the mobile world with General Magic, a startup that spun out of Apple in 1990 with the goal of creating a "handheld personal communicator" that supported, among other things, multimedia email. Lynch said he "had the great opportunity to work with some of my heroes who had created the Mac." Bill Atkinson and Andy Hertzfeld, original members of the Macintosh development team, helped start General Magic. The company went public in February 1995 but ceased operations in September 2002.
In 1996, Lynch joined Macromedia, a graphics, multimedia, and Web development software company. There, Lynch ran the team that built the Dreamweaver tool for creating Web pages. It was first released in 1997 and became a solid commercial hit still sold today.
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